Nan Zhou
Dr. Nan Zhou is a Senior Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and a leading expert in energy efficiency, greenhouse gas mitigation, and sustainable energy systems. Over her career, she has led numerous international programs and collaborations to advance climate solutions globally, with a strong focus on China and developing economies.
Dr. Zhou has held multiple leadership roles at Berkeley Lab, including Head of the International Energy Analysis Department (2017–2021) and China Energy Group Leader (2017–2022). She is currently the Technical Program Manager for the Net Zero World Action Center, an initiative launched by the U.S. government to help countries implement their climate ambition pledges and accelerate transitions to net-zero, resilient, and inclusive energy systems. Additionally, Dr. Zhou served as the Director (2012–2021) and Deputy Director (2010–2012) of the $100 million U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center-Building Energy Efficiency (CERC-BEE) program, where she led efforts to drive innovation in building energy efficiency and sustainable construction.
Dr. Zhou was selected by the U.S. government to represent U.S. scientists at the IPCC AR7 Report Scoping Meeting in December 2024. She is also a Lead Author for the chapter on Mitigation and Development Pathways in the IPCC Working Group III Sixth Assessment Report on Mitigation of Climate Change.
Her career achievements include:
• Winning the 2024 ACEEE Champions of Energy Efficiency in Buildings award.
• Being a finalist for the 2016 C3E Awards for mid-career women’s leadership and achievement in clean energy.
• Publishing over 300 papers, including in top journals such as Nature Energy and Nature Communications.
• Receiving 2024 Highly Cited Paper Awards from Advances in Applied Energy.
• Leading teams to develop 17 new products, 20 copyrighted software tools, and numerous policy recommendations for energy efficiency and decarbonization.
Dr. Zhou’s expertise spans integrated energy system modeling, end-use energy efficiency in buildings, appliances, industry, and transport, as well as smart city and low-carbon development. Her innovative work has earned multiple honors, including R&D 100 Awards (2013, 2016, 2020), and the 2020 Lab Director’s Technology Transfer Award for the BETTER tool.
Beyond her research, Dr. Zhou serves as an Editorial Board Member for Nexus (Cell Press), Advances in Applied Energy, and Applied Energy. She is the U.S.-designated Advisory Board Member of the Asia Pacific Energy Research Centre under APEC, a Council Member of the Global Future Council of the World Economic Forum, and Co-Chair of the Academic Advisory Committee of the California-China Climate Institute.
Earlier in her career, Dr. Zhou was an assistant professor in Japan and has continuously advanced global innovation in sustainable energy systems. She holds a Ph.D. in Engineering , and has received significant recognition for her contributions to science, technology, and policy.
Awards
2020 R&D 100 Award: BETTER Tool - October 5th 2020
Building Efficiency Targeting Tool for Energy Retrofits (BETTER)
The buildings sector is the largest source of primary energy consumption (40%) and ranks second after the industrial sector as a global source of direct and indirect carbon dioxide emissions from fuel combustion. According to the World Economic Forum, nearly one-half of all energy consumed by buildings could be avoided with new energy-efficient systems and equipment.
The Building Efficiency Targeting Tool for Energy Retrofits (BETTER) allows municipalities, building and portfolio owners and managers, and energy service providers to quickly and easily identify the most effective cost-saving and energy-efficiency measures in their buildings. With an open-source, data-driven analytical engine, BETTER uses readily available building and monthly energy data to quantify energy, cost, and greenhouse gas reduction potential, and to recommend efficiency interventions at the building and portfolio levels to capture that potential.
It is estimated that BETTER will help reduce about 165.8 megatons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) globally by 2030. This is equivalent to the CO2 sequestered by growing 2.7 billion tree seedlings for 10 years.
The development team includes Berkeley Lab scientists Nan Zhou, Carolyn Szum, Han Li, Chao Ding, Xu Liu, and William Huang, along with collaborators from Johnson Controls and ICF.
2020 Tech Transfer Award: BETTER Team - September 29th 2020
2020 Director’s Awards for Exceptional Achievement, Tech Transfer
In recognition of the exemplary efforts of Carolyn Szum, Chao Ding, Nan Zhou, Xu Liu, Han Li to build important relationships with industry to advance the science of data-driven, remote building energy analysis to improve building energy efficiency at speed and scale worldwide.
Applied Energy Outstanding Research and Contribution Prize - April 1st 2019
Outstanding Research and Contribution Prize for a publication in Applied Energy entitled “A roadmap for China to peak carbon dioxide emissions and achieve a 20% share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy by 2030”
2017 R&D 100 Award: Benchmarking and Energy Saving Tool for Low-Carbon Cities (BEST Cities) - November 20th 2017
The Benchmarking and Energy Saving Tool for Low-Carbon Cities (BEST Cities) provides a rapidly deployable tool to use for low-carbon planning, especially in China. This integrated, computer-based software helps local policymakers and urban planners quickly assess their city's energy use and related emissions, compare their low-carbon performance to similar cities and develop and prioritize a low-carbon development plan with strategies that reduce city CO2 and methane (CH4) emissions. BEST Cities assesses local energy use and energy-related CO2 and CH4 emissions from nine economic sectors—industry, public and commercial buildings, residential buildings, transportation, production of power and heat, street lighting, water and wastewater, solid waste, and urban green space—giving officials a comprehensive perspective on their energy and carbon inventory. The tool benchmarks 35 indicators of energy and emissions performance with other cities inside and outside of China and prioritizes sectors with the greatest energy-saving and emissions-reduction potential. Beta-testing was provided by Shandong Academy of Sciences. The technology was based on model originally developed by ESMAP known as TRACE, the Tool for the Rapid Assessment of City Energy.